Forging the Light Shadow Blade, Part 2

Forging the Light Shadow Blade, Part 2

Compared to ordinary, tedious training, hammering iron in a blacksmith's shop was itself a job. As long as he did not treat it as training, it did not seem so dull, and once he immersed himself in it, it was easier to enter a focused state.

Then there was the environment of the forge: blazing temperatures and intense heat!

This was not particularly friendly to ordinary people, but for Fengyun, who had attained a rank and possessed battle qi, it allowed him to enter a training state more quickly and effectively, tempering himself.

If there was any drawback, it was that it could easily cause an imbalance in the strength of his left and right arms. But Fengyun treated that as a way to train his control over himself. With deliberate adjustments, apart from making him look more burly than ordinary warriors and giving him stronger arms, it had no other effects.

Thus, after coming here several times to modify his Knight Sword, this place became where he usually trained his strength. The owner was also happy to befriend him, and over the years, Fengyun had unknowingly become an advanced blacksmith.

He lit the fire and worked the bellows. Once the iron billet had turned red-hot, Fengyun raised his heavy hammer and brought it down in blows as dense as drumbeats.

He hammered away for three days and two nights. Relying on the physical qualities of a Level 5 Warrior, Fengyun did not leave the forge table for even a moment. A standard steel ingot meant for forging a broad Knight Sword was hammered into a long, slender blade blank.

Brady stared at the blade blank, his brow deeply furrowed.

From his forging experience, Fengyun had beaten the blank straight and thin, which meant he intended to forge a sword—a rapier or a shortsword.

Yet Fengyun had also made one side of the blank thick and the other thin, which clearly indicated a blade.

But if it was to be a blade, not only did it lack a curve, it was also too light and thin, making it truly unsuitable for chopping.

Only now, when Fengyun had finished hammering out the blank, could he no longer hold back. "Little Yun, what kind of weapon are you trying to forge?"

"It's neither quite a sword nor, if it's a blade, is it anything but too light and thin. Could it be a dagger? But isn't it too long for that?"

Having finished forging the blade blank, Fengyun wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Uncle Brady, this is a Straight Sword. Though it has no curve and isn't thick or heavy enough, it's easier to control, and..."

"More handsome!"

Having comprehended Lifting the Light as if Heavy, Fengyun finally understood why, despite laying such a solid and perfect foundation and possessing incomparably precise control over himself—even being able to fight enemies above his level—he had never been able to comprehend Lifting the Heavy as if Light or Lifting the Light as if Heavy.

It was because his control over everything about himself was too precise. Through deliberate training, it had become far more meticulous than that of an ordinary warrior with a perfect foundation.

Yet in certain details, he still could not achieve complete control over everything at once. As a result, he devoted too much effort to areas that were difficult for him to train and improve.

He had viewed Lifting the Heavy as if Light and Lifting the Light as if Heavy as something too mysterious!

At their root, Lifting the Heavy as if Light and Lifting the Light as if Heavy were still control over one's own strength and energy, except that this control leaned more toward the whole.

Thus, after a warrior perfected their foundation, they might, in battle or training, achieve what Fengyun had during a crisis: their spirit would surge instinctively, unifying the strength of their entire body and melding everything about themselves into one.

All strength and energy became one, concentrated at a single point, along a single line. That was why, when Fengyun fought the Alpha Wolf, even though he wielded a thick, heavy broken Knight Sword, he could treat it like a thin, sharp blade and effortlessly sever the Alpha Wolf's head.

Had the blood pressure in the Alpha Wolf's neck not forced its head apart, it would have seemed as though Fengyun had not severed its head at all. This was the terrifying might that could be displayed by unifying all strength and energy!

After encountering this state of unifying everything about oneself into one point several times, a warrior with high comprehension could initially grasp it, then go further and gain complete control over every trace of their own strength, reaching the realm of Lifting the Light as if Heavy or Lifting the Heavy as if Light.

But Fengyun's exceedingly precise control over himself had allowed him to respond well whenever he faced danger in the past, overcoming every crisis.

Unable to let his spirit surge in a true crisis and instinctively use Control Over Self to unify all the strength in his body, he could not master Lifting the Light as if Heavy or Lifting the Heavy as if Light!

If the Alpha Wolf had not bitten through his weapon, making him feel the threat of death in that instant and forcing his mind into intense focus, he would not have instinctively slashed out with that sword.

He probably would have needed several more years of tempering himself, achieving truly perfect control over every detail of himself, before he could naturally use Control Over Self over all his strength and reach the realm of Lifting the Heavy as if Light and Lifting the Light as if Heavy—a realm that controlled all of one's strength!

This was also why he had felt that his control over himself had reached the utmost limit, with no room for further progress, yet he had been unable to break through.

After all, no matter how precise his control over his own strength was, there would always be certain details he could not fully attend to at the same time.

Without being able to completely use Control Over Self over all his strength, he could not break through into this realm.

However, hard training would ultimately bring rewards. Fengyun, who had trained his exceptionally strong control over himself through countless drops of sweat, had understood the key to this realm the moment he severed the Alpha Wolf's head.

Even after Huihui interrupted him, he was able to rely on his control over himself to seize that lingering sensation and once again slash out with Lifting the Light as if Heavy. In the process of killing the remaining Wind Wolves, he completely mastered the realm of Lifting the Light as if Heavy!

That was why he preferred light weapons!

Although, having mastered Lifting the Light as if Heavy, he could quickly master Lifting the Heavy as if Light through his exceptional control over himself.

When he could unify all his strength into one, unleashing an extremely sharp and concentrated attack, he could also make that concentrated, unified strength explode the instant it came into contact with an enemy, forming a devastating attack.

Using a heavy weapon could also grant him an additional boost from the weapon's weight.

But heavy weapons would affect the speed that was currently most important to him, something intolerable for a light-element warrior like him.

Therefore, once he had the idea of forging a weapon, his first choice was a light weapon, one better suited for detailed control. Heavy weapons were not in his considerations at all. It was not as if he could not use the explosive techniques of Lifting the Heavy as if Light with a light weapon; at most, he simply would not gain the weight bonus of a heavy weapon.

While the blade blank was still fresh, Fengyun took out several potions, materials, engraving knives, and other items used for Alchemy. After putting on specially made heat-resistant gloves, he began working on the blade blank.

As a first-rate blacksmith, Brady had also worked with alchemists to forge magical weapons. Seeing this, he knew Fengyun intended to use an alchemist's methods to modify and enchant the blade blank.

He immediately arranged for his men to form a circle around Fengyun and drove away the other blacksmiths watching the spectacle, preventing them from disturbing him.

Compared to forging the blade blank, modifying it with Alchemy took much less time. In just three hours, the initial modifications were complete.